My name is Vlad Bjornson, and I’m an info addict. :) I’m a bit obsessive about keeping up with the latest SL news and I’m constantly checking the forums and SL related blogs for bits of  interesting news and helpful tips.

To make my second life easier, and hopefully yours as well, I have created a new website called ShinyMix. It’s a collection of all the RSS feeds from my favorite SL blogs - all wrapped up in a spiffy, easy to read package. The feeds are updated ever hour so you can find something new just about any time of the day or night.

ShinyMix contains the feeds from 25 of my favorite blogs, most of them dealing with news, art, and content creation. I’ll add more feeds as I stumble on new sites that match my interests and the Shiny Life theme.  I’d also love to hear your suggestions for blogs to add to the mix.

Shiny 3D Input

I heard about these SpaceNavigator thingies - a 3D input device that works with SL. The geek factor was way too high and I was forced to by one. :D Big shiny button! After using this thing to cam around for just a couple of days I can’t imagine using SL without it.

This is just a quick video that demonstrates how easy it is to use the FlyCam mode with the SpaceNavigtor to make smooth, effortless camera movements.

Easily create you own giant redwood forest!

I’ve just completed a big new product for my FloraPrims store. It’s a kit that allows you to create a realistic redwood forest by simply rezzing and positioning objects. There are dozens of original objects and textures that you can use to create a unique forest full of lush textures amd natural shapes.

The kit includes:

• 15 different redwood trees in 3 different sizes
• 5 stumps and logs
• 1 giant, sculpted prim stump
• 4 color changing flowers and 1 flexi flower from FloraPrims
• 13 clumps and patches of undergrowth
• 10 mushrooms and ferns from my FloraPrims collection
• 2 stone path shapes
• 20 original, seamless textures

Everything is MODIFY and COPY enabled, too!

If you can rez and position an object in SL, then you can use this kit to create you own unique redwood forest. Simple as that. :)

You can find this product. more information, and a small sample forest at my FloraPrims store in Turing Isle. You can also get it on SLexchange.

Linden Lab just announced a new feature in the Release Candidate viewer called Avatar Rendering Costs. A.R.C. will let you gague how an avatar and all their attachments is effecting your graphics rendering performance.

What an abosoltely wonderful idea! Finally we have some concrete in-world evidence that ‘hoochy hair’ really does lag up an area. :) Seriously though, I think that this tool will really encourage people to be a bit more aware of how they are constructing their content and a bit more careful about how they dress up their Avs.

Check out the LL blog post for more specific details, then download the new RC viewer to try it out for yourself. The post hints that there will be more similar features in the future. Here’s hoping that there will be something similar for every in-world object. Can you imagine the improvement on the grid if low-lag was the new buzzword?

So what is your Avatar Rendering Cost score? I’m going in-world right now to find mine. :)